An Electric Storm [Import, Original recording remastered]

White Noise, White Noise | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 16, 2007)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Universal
• ASIN: B000QEKHQW
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,388 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Love Without Sound

2. My Game Of Loving

3. Here Come The Fleas

4. Firebird

5. Your Hidden Dreams

6. The Visitations

7. The Black Mass: An Electric Storm In Hell

Editorial Reviews

Digitally remastered reissue of this ambitious 1969 album. Cited as an influence by Aphex Twin and Chemical Brothers, White Noise's An Electric Storm was the work of American-born David Vorhaus, Delia Derbyshire (who had created the electronic version of the `Doctor Who' theme for the BBC) and Brian Hodgson. The album was surprising for the fact that two of the three members were not long-haired Rock musicians, but were respected pioneers of Electronic music who worked at the BBC's legendary Radiophonic Workshop. Universal.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an electric storm.......?...... definately!, October 15, 2002

By 

chryssanthy maria (greece) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Electric Storm (Audio CD)

The legendary debut White Noise album was released in 1969 by Island Records featuring Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson, who had worked for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and David Vorhaus, who had studied classical orchestral bass playing and electronics.
Tne instrumentation had all shorts of early electronic instruments and a huge amount of tape manipulation, the standard techniques of the Workshop in those days.
An electric storm is considered to be one of the most (if not the greatest) experimental albums that island ever had, but for a weird reason ..... the company doesn't seem to care as much as the people who try to find it!
The songs in "An electric storm" create a peculiar and sometimes dark atmospere... unfortunately words can say only little about the new musical, aesthetical e.t.c perceptions that this record introduced back in 1969....The album was so ahead of its time then, so today it sounds as fresh as can be...
"Love without sound" the first song of the album grabs the listener from the start! Twirling and echoing sounds, little hunny electronic noises, which don't read funny in the context though and very spontanious vocalisations create an alice in wonderland by NIGHT effect, at least to my ears!
"My game of loving" .. is an erotic game baroque song spoken in two languages (this has a meaning people!) and with orgasm sound interloudes.... very serious very dark and fatal...only to end up in and series of snores! unique!love it! I remember when I first heard this song on the radio the radio producer kept talking on the orgasm parts! wow, talking about censorship!
"Your hidden dreams" is a cosmogonic fantastic song with very nice lyrics. Generally the lyrics are not just sung, they are spoken, sceamed, whispered, cried out, the words are living!
"Here come the flies"... well as the title implies we have a lot of humour, or sarcasm if you prefer in this song... again not describing a funny condition but the rather opposite i guess....
"Black mass: an electric storm in hell"....well I think that I've only heard the introduction of that song (very nice and baroquish indeed...) but the title describes the song better than i can ......i mean: MY GOD! I WISH I NEVER HAVE TO GO TO HELL, IF ELECTRIC STORMS IN HELL SOUND LIKE THIS!
However in my opinion the most striking moment is the epic..."Visitations"...male and female vocalisations endless vigorus sobing sounds mixing with speedway echoes, obsesivenes and repeativeness (of music= sounds=voices)one time and fading away the other create an enormous emotional awakening.... but it can be a haunting trip....I was just left speachless.....there are few times where you cannot believe what you actually hear....and this was one of them

but then this my point of view...and my truth....

(a_maze)

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An early milestone in electronic pop!, April 4, 2000

By 

DAC Crowell - See all my reviews

This review is from: Electric Storm (Audio CD)

Very few people know of this album...and personally, I am DAMNED amazed to find that it's been reissued on CD! This is one of the true obscure delights from the very earliest days of electronic rock, back when Tangerine Dream was still using things like contact-miked adding machines and such. But this never led in the directions that TD et al did. David Vorhaus is the main culprit here, an American-born wizard of electronic sound who emigrated to the UK to avoid Vietnam. Teaming with some vets from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (the place that gave the world the "Dr. Who" theme, for one), Vorhaus crafted this masterwork in the classic e-music methods; lots of tape and musique concrete work is in evidence here, along with some very interesting and often twisted early synth work and massive reprocessing of percussion and other sounds. There's often a really creepy feel that gets into the mix here, especially on the latter two very dark tracks, and much of this seems to be the antecedent for a lot of what would follow within a decade in industrial music in England and elsewhere. Vorhaus's use of tape layering and his choice of sound-sources sometimes precurses such industrialists as the Hafler Trio, Sleep Chamber, or John Duncan, and the title track is a treated percussion + electronics assault that ranks up there with the best of SPK's early efforts. But it's not all dark and evil, as "Here Come the Fleas" and "Firebird" definitely serve to lighten the mood. No telling how long this will be available, so if you find the roots of industrial, techno, electronic pop, etc etc etc to be a matter of interest to you, you should grab a copy of this immediately. It's both entertaining _and_ educational!

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Explode the Soul into Holographic Sound Eternal, March 9, 2006

By 

W. T. Hoffman "artist and musician" (Pennsylvania, United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Electric Storm (Audio CD)

OK, I've had my share of creepy experiences with music, naturally psychedelic music, and my mind. I'm an explorer of the mind, a willing fool who will delve into any uncharted territory, to find that ultimate SOUL-BRAIN experience. I came across this band's name, thru MOJO magazine. It had an article, listing the 50 most mind blowing LPS of all time. (Number one was Capt. Beefheart's TROUT MASK--another CD I had had a bizarre experience back in art school, in the 80s.) Anyway, this CD was listed number TEN. WHA??? THE TENTH MOST PSYCHEDELIC ALBUM OF ALL TIME? I"VE NEVER HEARD OF IT? MUST BUY..MUST BUY. Well, the first time i heard it, i was impressed. The studio effects, for the time (1968) were amazing. There are some wild songs, with twists and turns during the more "structured" song like selections, that really helt my attention, and tickled my imagination, and freaked me even during my everyday conscousness. Apparently, the LP had been a labor of love, or some obsession like love, built up almost note by note, over the period of a year or more. Talk about ambient electronics....for that sound alone, you could mine this piece of art for years. As for early Pink Floyd, for comparison, it sounds far beyond what they were doing at the time. In fact, having a collection of music, that I tend to think of, as the "MOST PSYCHEDELIC MUSIC EVER RECORDED", I'd have to put this CD up there, at the top. So anyway, the legend behind the LP is interesting. Chris Blackwell, AKA Island Records, gave the electronic wizard behind this LP, about 3000 pounds, to make the album. After a YEAR, Blackwell wanted product, and when he had seen they only had 30 minutes of this mind labaryth recorded, he DEMANED a finished album, in a matter of days. So, that is what spawned the most FRIGHTENING, SCARY, PSYCHEDLIC, HOLOGRAPHIC, KALIDASCOPIC song of all time---BLACK MASS (ELECTRIC STORM IN HELL). Unlike many of the other songs, after the invocation to SOMETHING DARK AND OBSCURE, the 7 minute track is just instrumental. (Altho you might experience it as lasting far far longer. You know how time dialates, as you approach the speed of light.) I can't discribe what you hear, tho alot of it is percussion and freak out screaming, with electronic effects, layers up, and spinning between the speakers. What you REALLY hear, the title best sums up. Now, it's not BLACK SABATH freaky, or heavy metal kiddy music for your Le VAY infacuation. The title BLACK MASS, is just part of the scare tactics. It's not demonic, if you are worried about that on moral grounds. This is a song, that would give anyone the creeps, if you just LISTEN to it. But, if the planets are lined up just right, and the incense is just right, the setting just right, and the brain is vibrating in OPEN mode, then you are going to be sent into TOTAL BRAIN FRY FREAKLAND. Somehow, its encoded into the music, and I find that INCREDIBLE. Its just frightening, for some reason. Even with the sophistication of modern 48 channel digital mixing boards, computer controlled volumn sliders, preprogrammed multi-channel panning, 5.1 sound coming at you from all around, nothing I've heard approaches the incredible sound found on this song. (and the whole album, really.) Sometimes, having everything available for you, at the touch of a button, provided you have this month's computer, and this month's program running in it, limits you more, than the CREATIVE PUSH you get, from using limited technology, to produce something 20-30 years ahead of its time. After all, even with all the technology we have today, right now we dont have the technology to fly back to the moon, or produce another Sgt. Pepper. So, who would like this CD? I would say, if you are into some of PINK FLOYD, ZAPPA, freaky Krautrock (BRAINTICKET's 1st LP), Capt. BEEFHEART, early Velvet Underground, Lydia Lunch's 13.13, the best of MERCURY REV, or CAMPER VAN BEETHOVAN. So much of the way music works you over, is personal, and subjective. However, when you start to read, or hear, many of the same discriptions given to certain LPS, or people "FREAK OUT" to the same LPs, then you might want to investigate. OR NOT, CHICKEN!!!! If you can't take it, go pull out your ABBA Lps, and hug a stuffed animal. PS--HIGHLY PSYCHEDELIC. Mixing this music with other psychedelic substances can be dangerous, even deadly. Headphones may increase this effect dramatically. Do not listen while operating machinery, driving UFOs, or attempting to chew gum. ISLAND RECORDS not responsible for any mental meltdowns from listening to this album. Listen at your own risk. (RISK IT!)